The misery of the journey
on board the coffin ships wasn't the only obstacle Irish immigrants would
face in coming to Canada. The religious divisions of their homeland followed
them. The Protestant Irish and Catholic Irish were two distinct ethnic
groups(12). The Catholics claimed themselves to be the original inhabitants
of Ireland, colonized but never defeated by the British. The Protestants
represented the Scottish and English colonists who came to Ireland under
the rule of the British and who were often rewarded with free land for
their loyalty to the Crown. The Irish Catholics and Protestants inherited
a fierce mistrust of each other which, though often overcome by individual
acts of generosity, would take generations to heal here in Canada(13).

The majority of Protestant
Irish came to Canada with ample savings and a religious background that
allowed them to fit in almost anywhere in British Canada. The Catholics,
however, were socially and politically marginalized in Ireland, and came
to Canada with few advantages other than a familiarity with the English
language, British institutions, and the Catholic religion they shared
with the French of Québec(14). That wasn't nearly enough.

The Irish Catholics were English-speaking
which complicated their relations with the French. But it was Québec
that welcomed them most vigorously, partly because of religion and perhaps
because of their shared resistence to the English. In the wake of their
calamitous arrival at Grosse Isle, hundreds of Irish children were orphaned
and alone. Québec families and parishes rallied around these children,
adopting them and allowing them to keep their Irish names. In Québec
today, you can find fourth and fifth generation Donovans, O'Neills and
O'Brians who do not speak English.

But outside Québec,
acceptance was more difficult. Irish Catholicism was frowned upon by the
Protestant majority in other parts of Canada. And in Canada, citizenship
was tied to the British Crown. This made it extremely difficult for the
"native Catholic Irish" to remain loyal to their political culture and
heritage while at the same time being good Canadian citizens(15). There
was much suspicion of the Irish Catholics. Those who came during the Famine
arrived poor and sick with cholera and typhus. The fear of spreading disease
and of hungry, indigent hordes threatening public order worried government
and public alike. The painful stereotype of the Irish Catholic as lazy,
drunken and proliferate-the old hurts from home-followed them into English
Canada and would remain etched in the public mind for several generations.
It was a stereotype the Irish would defeat only through hard work, social
ascendancy and education.